by Noel | Apr 17, 2013 | CobraHead, Gardening
Compost solves everything! Well, not quite, but one can garden in compost alone and you cannot have too much. This year I’m way ahead. I’ve got a pile of ready to apply material (the smaller pile in the picture). And even though it’s still too wet in the garden beds to do much work, I took advantage of two unexpected warm and dry days to turn the pile I had created throughout last year. This is what I started with. The picture was taken in...
by Noel | Apr 9, 2013 | CobraHead, Gardening
Were I growing vegetables for money, I’d make sure I got my seeds started on a very specific schedule. But as a casual home gardener, I don’t have to worry much about getting everything exactly right. I’m just getting most of my seeds started now, and by the rules, some are a little late. That doesn’t bother me a lot. I’ve learned that you have a lot of latitude in growing your own food, and most of the “rules” are...
by Noel | Mar 19, 2013 | CobraHead, Gardening
I’ve wanted an orchard ladder for a long time and I finally got one. They are also called fruit picking ladders or tripod ladders, but there are other tripod ladders out there that are not designed specifically as orchard ladders. The better orchard ladders are lightweight aircraft aluminum and the good manufacturers are just about all on the west coast. That makes it a problem if you are not located near a major fruit growing industry. These ladders are...
by Geoff | Mar 11, 2013 | Gardening
Last month I noticed that a two foot section of sugar snap peas had been cut down almost to the ground. I inspected the damage expecting to see evidence of squirrels or some other mammal, but instead discovered that my arch-nemesis, the leaf cutting ant, had returned. I saw them methodically carrying away pieces of pea leaves, bigger than their own bodies. I have a leaf cutting ant nest somewhere on my property, probably underneath my front porch. I can’t...
by Geoff | Jan 28, 2013 | Gardening
It’s January in Austin and already time to plant early spring crops. I took advantage of the tomato trellis that I used last year to support this year’s snap peas. While cleaning out the bed, I worked around a lemon balm plant. Once I got the bed cleaned out, I added a couple of buckets of compost and created furrows for the peas. I wanted to take advantage of the space in the center of the bed, so I transplanted the Chinese Kale that I had started...
by Noel | Jan 13, 2013 | CobraHead, Gardening
I had two sweet potatoes left over from last year. I had used them to grow cuttings for last year’s garden. They were starting to shrivel up but both had put out numerous long sprouts. The sprouts were rather anemic and one plant had an aphid infestation, but I thought I’d give a try to saving cuttings from both to get a real head start on having lots of good rooted slips ready to go into the ground in late May. Sweet potatoes are tenacious at...
